These Aces help combat theft and vandalism at churches

Churches sit at the centre of many communities and theft of lead from the roof or vandalism to the fabric of the building or churchyard causes more than physical damage. The intrusion into the community – and the cost of remedying the resulting harm – can be costly. The cost of making repairs to a church roof can be high and may well have an adverse effect on the general maintenance budget, as well as increasing insurance premiums.

Read more: These Aces help combat theft and vandalism at churches

All Things are now Bright and Beautiful for church

A North Tyneside church is looking forward to safely welcoming back its parishoners after COVID-19 restrictions meant that all acts of worship had to be done remotely or online.

To facilitate the return, St John's Church in Killingworth Village has undergone a top to bottom deep clean and bizarrely, the business who won the work has a number of connections with the church - not least the fact that their name is incorporated in one of the world's most well known hymns.

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Memorial gun restored as tribute to VC’s valour

In the centre of Chepstow in Monmouthshire, sited next to the town’s War Memorial, is a second memorial that commemorates the bravery of local seaman William Charles Williams at the Battle of Gallipoli during World War One. The memorial is a captured gun from the German U-boat UB91 and was donated to the town by King George V in Williams’s memory.

William Charles Williams VC was born in September 1880 in Shropshire and raised in Chepstow. He became an Able Seaman in 1901 and was commended for bravery during the Second Boer War whilst serving on board HMS Terrible off the coast of South Africa, and later during the Boxer Uprising in China.

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Non-standard products from Hargreaves Foundry and Rainclear

Rainclear Systems, the UK’s leading stockist and online retailer of metal rainwater will work with Hargreaves, a working foundry with its own pattern making shop and dedicated design team, on your behalf to produce non-standard cast iron rainwater components to replicate existing perished components to replace like-for-like but brand new to last another 100 years +.

Heritage properties often contain atypical building shapes and designs. If your building has non-standard specifications, we can help source and supply guttering with non-standard angles or special configurations.

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Residential conversion is a Roofing Award contender

One of the shortlisted projects in the Lead Roofing category of the 2020 Roofing Awards was a listed residential property at 53 Barton Mill Road in the historic centre of Canterbury.

The Barton Mill complex was the only surviving medieval mill in the city of Canterbury, but it was damaged by fire early this century. 53 Barton Mill Road is a mid-terrace property: timber framed with later 18th-century red brick and stone elevations under a Kent peg tile roof. The building was used as offices for the mill complex and converted to a dwelling in 2005.

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Fine craftsmanship lead roofing by Sussex Leadcraft Ltd

Reigate Priory School is set in the beautiful surroundings of Priory Park and is a historic Grade 1 listed building. It dates back to 1235 when William de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey, founded Reigate Priory for the Order of St Augustinian whose monks resided there for 300 years before the dissolution of the monasteries during the English Reformation.

The Priory played a further role in history being owned by the Howard family. The daughter, Catherine, became the fifth wife of Henry VIII at 19. She was the last one to be executed two years after the marriage.

Pictured above are details of the fine craftsmanship lead roofing by Sussex Leadcraft Ltd using Code 6,7,8,9, and 10 lead.

Pictured left is the sloping roof at Laughton Manor using Code 6 lead - another example of the craftsmanship of Sussex Leadwork.

The company has the highest achievable grade in the Lead Contractors Association.

For further information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Desert memorial merits its place on shortlist

It is unusual for the shortlist of the Roofing Awards to contain an overseas project, but the inclusion of the El Alamein War Cemetery in the Reinforced Bitumen Membranes category of the 2020 Awards was an honourable exception. The reroofing project was carried out by The Complete Roofing Company (TCRC) and will be carried over to the combined 2020/21 awards with the other shortlisted entries.

The El Alamein War Cemetery is the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemetery in Egypt. Unveiled in 1954 by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the cemetery contains more than 7,200 Commonwealth burials from World War Two, of which more than 800 are unidentified.

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Video technology rollout to help risk management surveys

Ecclesiastical Insurance is launching desk based video inspections to customers following investment in new technology.

The video streaming function, developed by long-time collaborators RiskSolved, allows a real-time view of the client’s property, providing a higher quality of desk based surveys.

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Families praise poignant memorial sculpture by Derbyshire craftsmen

All Steel Fabrications, a Derbyshire company that builds steel sculptures, has been praised for a ‘deeply moving’ memorial built to mark the centenary of one of Britain’s worst wartime civilian disasters.

The explosion in July 1918, at the National Shell Filling Factory in Chilwell, Nottinghamshire claimed 134 lives. The remains of the victims rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s in Attenborough and the church wanted to pay tribute to the courage of those who worked at the factory by commissioning a new memorial.

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Fine leadwork graces award-winning extension

For the new roof of a restaurant extension to the Grade One-listed Gravetye Manor in West Sussex, Matthew Marchant of M Marchant Specialist Lead Roofing Contractors Ltd used Code 6 lead throughout.

The roofing project was shortlisted in last year’s Murdoch Awards, while the new restaurant won a Mid Sussex Design Award – the commercial category of the 2019 Sussex Heritage Trust awards – and was a finalist in the 2019 SECBE Constructing Excellence Awards.

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Have an extra 5% off all cast aluminium ranges this October

Rainclear Systems, the UK’s leading stockist and online retailer of metal rainwater systems are offering an extra 5% off all their Cast Aluminium rainwater Ranges in October 2020.

Traditional cast aluminium is manufactured in the UK and sits at the upper end of the price range for metal guttering - More expensive than our extruded aluminium and galvanised steel ranges and more or less equal, depending on the project, to the cost of pre-painted cast iron - It is strong and long lasting and best suited to quality, traditional style projects.

Read more: Have an extra 5% off all cast aluminium ranges this October

Refurbishment restores Nottingham Castle Rock to its former glory

Nottingham Castle Rock is an ancient monument surrounding several areas of the world-famous Nottingham Castle. Originally constructed in 1068, time has seen the structure and its encompassing roads, caves and tunnels, be subject to ruin and deterioration.

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